Sunday, November 28, 2004

USC

The blog has been out of commission for a bit today, which prevented pre-game blogging, and I am so far beyond exhausted right now that I can't do anything worthwhile post-game. It also prevented our two newest bloggers from signing on but that should be fixed now. More later. Sorry for the lame effort.

Suffice it to say: Tar Heels good. Southern Cal not so good.

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Thanksgiving Day Post

Well, since there's not likely to be much in the way of Tar Heel sports to write about for a few days now, I thought I'd just do something in the spirit of the season.

So without further ado - some things I'm thankful for today . . .

-I managed to get a wireless setup going at my in-laws. Yes, I'm pretty pleased with myself about that. Plus, it makes me keep blogging just because I can.

-Every year at this time, I get to take my kids to see two sets of grandparents, and I can never tell whether the kids or the grandparents are more excited.

-I was a Tar Heel bred -- I'm a Tar Heel fan today in no small part because Carolina games were one of the things we always did together as a family. Every trip to the pines of Kenan or the Dean Dome stirs memories of another happy time.

-Speaking of childhood -- I'm thankful that although I can barely remember it anymore, Dad had tickets to Carmichael before there was a Dean Dome. Our seats were so high up that I can remember Dad wasn't able to stand up completely when it was time to cheer. Thanks, Dad.

-In the early '80's, I was still in a hero-worship stage with UNC sports. A friend invited me to go see the Tar Heels play an NCAA game in Reynolds Coliseum. We showed up early and watched warmups when almost no one was there. When James Worthy's turn came, I yelled at him: "Slam it home, James" -- and here's the thing -- he did. And he smiled and nodded in my direction afterwards. Never forgot it. Thanks, James.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Felton

This looks like the player of the year candidate we were expecting last season. Maybe the Chris Paul thing is getting to him.

. . . and then, just as I was feeling good about life, they show that DAMN DIAMOND COMMERCIAL AGAIN!!!!

Oh . . . oh my . . .

That is the best penetration and dunk we've ever seen from Raymond Felton.

Did that Santa Clara thing really happen, or did I just dream that? No way this team lost to Santa Clara.

If there's anything better than watching a 50+ point half

. . . it's a a heartwarming story like this one during the holidays.

Best play of the season

That tip from Marvin Williams for the McCants dunk was crazy. Man we look good when we want to.

Melvin Scott

Is he channeling Ronald Curry's jumpshot all of a sudden, or is it me?

Iowa -- Happy thanksgiving

First chance to post on Iowa today. Now, given my extraordinary powers of reasoning, I'm gonna say they're pretty good given that, you know, they've made the final and all that.

But let's see here . . . Sagarin ratings (yes, I know i've already declared them useless, but it's something to talk about) say Iowa is 27th and we're 41st through the games of yesterday. The point spread is supposedly 11.5 in favor of the Heels. My guess is that we're the better team, but playing 3 days in a row makes the benches a big factor, and I just plain don't know about Iowa's bench one way or the other. If they're deep and we lull into another soft second half, we could lose it.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Second half

I don't like the looks of how things are going. McCants has slowed down and they've cut the lead to 16 points. I still don't think we're going to lose or anything, but we look like we're mailing it in a little in the second half. I really wish we'd want to win by 40 when we're up 20.

The horror that is the shirts

Oh, you're absolutely right on the shirts. Of course, bad shirts are kind of a Maui classic tradition, but I think we have taken it to another level. Not only is the staff wearing bad shirts, but each is wearing one that clashes with everyone else's. McGrath is wearing one that I think someone else had on last night. Can we not at least coordinate the bad shirts? That way it looks like, hey, we did the best we could with the requirement. Now it looks like they took the first 4 shirts on the rack they saw at the Honolulu Wal-Mart.

Those diamond commercials

OK, who's the killjoy that put the diamond commercials in the middle of the basketball game tonight? You know, the one where the guy is in some place that looks like Italy, and we then discover that he has flown in his wife's mother and father and pretty much every friend they have so that he can present her with a 43 carat, triple diamond, second engagement ring and "marry her again"?

Are there actually enough people that this would appeal to merit making a commercial for it? Who has that kind of money? Does this make every guy with a "real job" watching this game feel inadequate, or is it just me?

Tennessee -- halftime

Didn't get a chance to post at all today. Friggin' job and all that. Then I wanted to post when I got home, but had all kinds of issues with my wireless hookup. Anyway, without further ado --

The defense is again intense, although my impression of Tennessee (which is truly an impression; I'm not very familiar with non-ACC teams at this point in the season) is that like BYU they're pretty inexperienced. It will be interesting to see how a team with some bona fides handles the pressure defense. The team is just lightning quick in converting those opportunities, and remind me of some of Roy's high-scoring Kansas teams.

No way Tennessee comes back in this one. What I can't figure out is how this team possibly struggled with Santa Clara. I mean, that game was not even particularly close from what I could tell listening to the radio. I would think that with or without Felton this team ought to be able to handle a Santa Clara on defense alone. Maybe it was just first-game jitters, but until this happens a few more time I'm still going to worry that this team will have an evil twin that shows up once every few games or so.

Monday, November 22, 2004

BYU - What the heck?

The game no longer merits comment, but why do they put Raftery with Bilas and McDonough?

I just heard the man actually say, referring to a Noel dunk: "That's Bisquick. Because it rises so fast." That is just so not funny.

I will say that Bilas does an exceptionally good job of being fair to the Tar Heels and always has, despite his obviously contrary allegiances. Why can't Billy Packer pull that off?

BYU: halftime impressions

At risk of a monster jinx, the truth of the matter is that we are making BYU look like a YMCA team.

This is the first time I've seen any of the new guys play. So far I'd say Marvin Williams looks a little weaker than I expected, but I like what I've seen of Quentin Thomas more than I anticipated. Q looks like a true point guard with a little flash. I suspect with Marvin it's more an issue of shaking off the nerves than anything.

The defense is as intense as I've seen it in years, and the word that comes to mind from the first half is pure hustle.

No way we can lose this particular game, but the only question about this team is whether they are mentally tough enough to "bring it" every night. If so, we are going to be very tough to beat. I just don't yet have much confidence that we're there.

BYU: early impressions

Well, I've barely gotten settled in and already it's 33-8 Heels. Now THIS looks like a #1 team. Defense and everything -- although I will have to say that BYU looks awful. Fast break looks great, and May is running the floor hard.

I'd like to see something from Marvin Williams -- looks a little "freshmany" so far.

Kudos to the UNC fans who made the trip --- I'm surprised how well the "Turn it Blue" campaign has worked -- the fans look like a sea of blue. I'm looking for people I know, but so far the only person I've recognized in the audience is Dean Smith.

Tire Bowl Bound?

Just heard on the radio that both the Clemson and South Carolina athletic departments have informed the bowl committees that they will refuse any invitations that are extended for postseason play, as self-imposed punishment for the brawl on Saturday.

I haven't looked at it carefully, but I think that means the Heels are a shoo-in for the Tire Bowl in Charlotte, as Clemson was the primary alternative being discussed. Not sure whether it might bump us to something higher-profile, but a road trip to Charlotte is just fine by me.

Why be a fan?

I saw this article by George Will today, about why people become over-the-top passionate about Alabama football. Although I don't think I'm likely to be buried in a UNC-themed coffin (see the article for the reference), I would think his diagnosis would be much the same for ACC basketball fans.

I like George Will OK, but I think he's over-reading this cultural thing. The reason that Alabama football fans/Carolina basketball fans seem unusually passionate to Will has nothing (directly) to do with southern culture. It has a great deal more to do with the fact that very few people in the South grew up with any kind of professional sports team to follow. For us, college sports were the professional level; it was all we had. The reason no one in Boston cares about Boston College sports is that they're distracted all year by the Bruins, Patriots, Celtics and Red Sox. Trust me -- there are plenty of face-painting nut job fans of those teams, but the reason they don't have RV's to attend games is that it's not necessary for them to make road trips to see them. They're right there in the back yard.

OK . . . up and running

I figure since tonight is the first game of the season, I ought to make my first on-topic post. (don't tell me about Santa Clara. There is no such place, and that did not happen. What other explanation could there be for its not having been on television here?)

The opponent is BYU. Since I have no idea about how good they're supposed to be, I went to the Sagarin Ratings, which are already up for 2004-2005. BYU is rated as 39th. The Heels are rated 248th, and according to Sagarin's system, are a 19 point underdog to BYU. And to make matters worse, NCSU is ranked #1 (the mythical Santa Clara rates #121). In other words, without further ado, we can declare the Sagarin ratings useless at this point in the season.

I don't have the dimmest idea how Sagarin does his thing, but I'm guessing he doesn't even attempt to make judgments based upon last year's performance, returning players, etc., and just lets the numbers fall as they may as the season goes on, so that there will be wild fluctuations early in the year followed by a settling.

Edit: I went back and checked on last year's BYU team. They finished 21-8 and made the tournament, where they lost to Syracuse. They beat #3 Oklahoma State during the regular season. So, depending upon who they have back this is no walk in the park. They are also supposed to be pretty big, and big teams have meant matchup problems for the Heels for years.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Maiden post

I'm posting this at about 8:23 on November 21, 2004, as a test.

If you're seeing this, hopefully, it's because you've been invited to join the blogging team for the Tar Heels.

Although we're using a "generic" template for the format right off the bat, it's my intention to find UNC-themed backgrounds and the like.

Also, don't feel limited by UNC sports. Although I that's our primary focus, I think it helps to keep things lively to include just about anything else in life that grabs your interest. Chances are that if you find something interesting there are other people just as strange as you who will react the same way.